Japanese-American to describe his experiences during World War II

Tadashi Kishi is coming to the Museum on Main on June 23 to share about his experiences in a Japanese-American internment camp in California during World War II. (Contributed photo)

Author Tadashi Kishi will speak at the Museum on Main in downtown Pleasanton at 7 p.m. Thursday about his experiences being locked away in a Japanese-American internment camp during World War II.

When he was 20 years old, Kishi and his family were forced from their Los Angeles-area home and, like thousands of Japanese-Americans (citizens and non-citizens), were sent to an internment camp in the spring of 1942 in the wake of Japan's attacks on Pearl Harbor.

Kishi and his family were housed in an internment camp in Manzanar, east of Fresno. He was a physics teacher at the camp's high school for a year and then left his family in the camp to work for the Military Intelligent Service teaching Japanese to members of the Army Reserve.

Following the war, Kishi did not talk about his experiences at the camp, staying silent like many of the exiled Japanese-Americans. That changed after his granddaughter asked him to share his story with her class.

The talk will be held in the museum's gallery space, which is currently displaying an exhibit on internment camps, "The Art of Survival; The Art of Tule Lake."

Kishi's presentation is free to attend, but space is limited and pre-registration is required, museum officials said. For more information, call 462-2776 or visit www.museumonmain.org/